UPDATES: Bay Area Christmas storm brings downed trees, power outages, road closures

All four bores of the Caldecott Tunnel are now open to drivers after partial closure due to transformer damage amid the storms, Caltrans said Friday.

All four bores of the Caldecott Tunnel are now open to drivers after partial closure due to transformer damage amid the storms, Caltrans said Friday.

Rain from this week's downpour got into the room where the transformers are, causing electrical damage. Caltrans shut down Bore 1, head eastbound, and Bore 3, headed westbound, on Wednesday as they did not have electricity or the power to run the ventilation system.

Caltrans says there is no structural damage to any of the tunnels. But its crews are still working to assess the electrical damage. And whether they can just repair or if they have to replace the damaged transformers.

"If we have to replace the transformers that will be a significant effort. Because they are pretty big. And we have figure out how to get them out. That will be a more long-term solution," explains Ney.

Caltrans says SR-24 is back at full capacity. The tunnels are being powered by a temporary generator until the repairs can be made.

Heavy rains and strong winds from powerful winter storms this week brought the wettest Christmas season to Southern California in years, triggering widespread mudslides and debris flows and leaving homes halfway filled with mud.

A falling tree killed a San Diego man Wednesday, news outlets reported. Farther north, a Sacramento sheriff's deputy died in what appeared to be a weather-related crash.

A 70-year-old woman was killed in Mendocino, California Monday after being swept away by a large wave and a 74-year-old man was killed in Redding, California after being swept away by flood waters Sunday.

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The Lick Observatory in San Jose was badly damaged by wind gusts that eclipsed 100 miles per hour, much stronger than the team there expected.

The Lick Observatory in San Jose was badly damaged by wind gusts that eclipsed 100 miles per hour, much stronger than the team there expected. They were strong enough to rip off a three-ton cast iron shutter on the domed building just after 3 a.m.

The visitor building sustained serious damage. Support beams for the roof nearly snapped in half and the building is now red-tagged. As for the nearly 150-year-old refractor telescope, it was thankfully undamaged and now wrapped up. The timeline to reopen and rebuild could be upwards of nine months, according to the Director of University of California Observatories Bruce McIntosh.

"This was probably the worst damage that has ever happened to the telescope," McIntosh said. "It's just heartbreaking, it's an amazingly beautiful place. I'm responsible for all the telescopes that the UC has and the science flagship in Hawaii. This is the most beautiful one. It is an amazing space with wood inlays, it's like a cathedral."

Power is slowly coming back on for thousands of people across the Bay Area, as storms continue to move through.

PG&E told ABC7 News Friday morning that it will have some challenges with restoration in some of the hard hit areas like Santa Cruz County, but says that that work will be made a bit easier now that worst of the storms are behind us.

But it was a challenge for many living in the South Bay.

PG&E reported an outage on San Thomas Aquino Parkway around 7:40 p.m. and at 9:30, people were still without power.

ABC7 News captured video of another outage in Cupertino, where there were reports of downed power lines.

At one point, over 1,000 people were affected.

In downtown San Jose, it was a wet commute.

We found hundreds of families with umbrellas in hands, braving the rain at Christmas In the Park.

From humans to pets, those who were out were dressed for the weather and festivities.

Heading into this round of storms, PG&E said that more than 5,500 field crews were ready to respond to outages.